Welcome to Nutritious Life founder Keri Glassman’s personal gift guide, where she shares her top tips on how to give healthy gifts everyone in your life will love, with her expert picks for the brilliant gifts she’s giving this year.


The question comes up year after year, and it never seems to get any easier: What am I going to give the people I love?

Want to skip to shopping? Get Keri’s gift picks, here.

Actually, I take that back. The more I’ve honed in on what makes a great gift and how gift giving fits into living a Nutritious Life, the better I’ve gotten at nailing it year after year. The first question to ask before you head down the online shopping rabbit hole:

What makes a great gift?

First of all, it’s not about whether or not it’s expensive or inexpensive. There are a few different qualities to a good gift. Some gifts have one of those qualities; some have all of them (major kudos if you land one of those!). Consider these:

It’s a treat

A great gift is something someone will actually use but that is a treat they wouldn’t typically buy for themselves. It’s that “slightly upgraded” item you probably wouldn’t splurge on on your own because it feels unnecessary.

For instance, a beautiful carafe that holds water on your nightstand. That’s a super useful item that encourages good hydration habits, but it’s also a splurge, since most people would stick to sticking any old glass next to their bed on their own. Or a really nice scrub. I love when I get a scrub. I seriously look forward to my shower that night. Unlike a normal moisturizer or cleanser, scrubs are more splurgey.

RELATED: How to De-Stress for a Zen Holiday Season

It’s personal

Another important quality is that you know the gift is so perfect for that person. For instance, you know they just moved and love travel, so a travel-focused coffee table book is perfect.  Or you take note that this person can never find his or her headphones, is always losing them, or is always using the cheap ones from the airplane, so you buy them nice, bulky headphones they won’t misplace.

Even more personal is giving someone a surprise gift they may not even know exists or that they wanted but that relates to something you know about them. For instance, someone who’s not super into wellness but has been talking about how they really want to work out more at home but can’t find the time or don’t have the right equipment. Wrap up this fancy jump rope (it even comes in gold!) and you’ve solved a problem for them while introducing them to a cool, chic product that will help them live healthier.

Which brings me to another important part of my gift giving philosophy…

Should you give healthy gifts to people who aren’t wellness-obsessed?

I say it’s 50-50. I have friends who are not in “the wellness world” but are interested in wellness. They actually love healthy gifts because they feel like they’re being introduced to cool, healthy things by me. But I have another girlfriend who, if I got her something like the jump rope, she’d have no interest. She’d think “This is for you, not me,” and you don’t ever want people to think a gift you’re giving is about you instead of them.

That doesn’t mean you can’t give things you love, of course, and I especially like to give things that have worked for me or are meaningful to me that I want to pass on. For instance, a woman in my life gave me the simplest gift—a set of these beautifully designed trays—and it changed my life. The allowed me to get majorly organized in a way that helped me live consciously and stress less, and now I’m giving them to other people in my life I know would appreciate that same solution.

The most important thing here is that when giving healthy gifts, you have to be cognizant of appearing pushy or judgy if the gift is setting someone up for a healthy habit the person doesn’t already have and hasn’t expressed interest in. Think deeply about how the person you’re giving it to will respond and whether it will feel inspiring or judgemental. It really depends on the person.

In the end, if you master the art of gift giving, you won’t just be helping others live their most Nutritious Lives, it’ll be good for you, too. Expressing and spreading love, after all, is a key component of happiness and health.

Ready to apply these tips? Check out my top gift picks for the holidays, here.

About Nutritious Life Editors

The Nutritious Life Editors are a team of healthy lifestyle enthusiasts who not only subscribe to — and live! — the 8 Pillars of a Nutritious Life, but also have access to some of the savviest thought leaders in the health and wellness space — including our founder and resident dietitian, Keri Glassman. From the hottest trends in wellness to the latest medical science, we stay on top of it all in order to deliver the info YOU need to live your most nutritious life.

WANT A SNEAK PEEK INSIDE THE PROGRAM?

Get FREE access to some of the core training materials that make up our signature program
– Become a Nutrition Coach.

Don’t Miss Out on Living a Nutritious Life

Sign Up for our newsletter!

Nutritious Life Newsletter - articles sidebar

Bioptimizers

WANT TO KNOW THE RIGHT MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENT FOR YOU?

Magnesium Breakthrough contains all 7 forms of magnesium designed to help calm your mind and help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up refreshed.

For an exclusive offer, go to bioptimizers.com/nlkeri and use promo code NLKERI for 10% off any order.

Interested in joining our wellness community and becoming a Nutritious Life Master Certified Nutrition and Wellness Coach?

Enter your info, get free access now to a sample class!

Inside Articles page - take a free class form

"*" indicates required fields

I agree*
I would like to receive text messages, and agree to the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. Reply STOP to cancel, HELP for help. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies.